The Tech Purchase That Made My Life 1,000 Times Easier
I don't remember exactly why I bought my first Kasa smart plug. According to my Amazon history, it was May 9, 2021, and I can't remember what I was doing then except spending lots of time at home. But I do know this: I don't want to remember life without one. Or 10. They're so good, so helpful, so useful, that now I have 10.
Why did I go from zero to 10, and why should you? Turning every outlet in your home into one you can control by app or voice assistant opens up a world of possibilities. I have houseplants under grow lights in darker corners of my home, and can turn those on and off even if I'm halfway around the world. I can put them on a schedule when I travel, but still turn that schedule off if someone needs to stay in my apartment. I can leave an appliance running, and turn it off while running errands. I can use my smart plugs for Christmas lights, or to make it appear someone is home for safety. I have a bedroom air purifier set to turn on one hour before my usual bedtime and to turn off in the morning, right as my living room air purifier is scheduled to turn on (doing this with a coffee maker or fan is an absolute no-brainer).
All this automation might sound complicated or technically intimidating, but I promise it's easier than you could dream possible. All you have to do is plug one in, push a button to connect it to your WiFi, add it to the phone app, and live your life. In the more than two years I've been using these every day, I've never had an issue with dropped connections or an inability to find WiFi. The Kasa app is straightforward, and if you prefer, you can simply use Alexa or Google Home instead (or both).
(Amazon has a new and compact Alexa-enabling Echo Pop smart speaker, if you don't have a voice control system set up.)
One thing I love most about the Kasa mini smart plugs is that if you only use one, it's small enough to leave the other socket in your outlet free without covering it up or making it impossible to plug something else in.
Kasa also makes their smart plug in a weather-ready outdoor power cord form, which is great for Halloween displays, Christmas lights or landscape lighting, or as indoor power strips for which each outlet can be controlled individually (I have one of those, too, plugged in behind a piece of furniture I never want to move).
The Kasa weather-resistant outdoor smart plug has a 4.6-star rating on Amazon.
You can check out every type they offer.
With the Kasa smart plug power strip, you can control each socket individually with your phone or voice.
Get it from Amazon for $9.99 (also available in an outdoor version for $17.99 and an indoor power strip for $43.99).
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Interestingly, Ackman has a very concentrated portfolio that included fewer than a dozen stocks as of the first quarter. Chipmaker Nvidia was not one of those stocks. Amazon's market value exceeds $2 trillion today, but it could be much larger in a few years. The company has a strong presence in three growing industries, as detailed below: Not only does Amazon run the largest online marketplace in the U.S., but it also expects to gain market share this year. Domestic retail e-commerce sales are forecast to increase 8% annually through 2028, according to eMarketer. Amazon is the third-largest adtech company in the world and is rapidly taking share from industry leaders Google (part of Alphabet) and Meta Platforms. Retail ad spending is forecast to increase 17% annually in the U.S. through 2028, according to eMarketer. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest public cloud operator, as measured by infrastructure and platform services spending. Cloud computing sales are forecast to grow at 20% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research. Importantly, retail advertising and cloud services revenues not only are growing faster than online retail sales, but also have higher margins. That will make Amazon more profitable over time. But the company is also developing about 1,000 generative AI applications that will improve productivity and efficiency across its retail business, from front-end tasks like customer service to back-end tasks like coding. AWS is ideally positioned to monetize AI. It already operates the largest public cloud as measured by revenue and customers, but it has also introduced new products at all three layers of the computing stack. That includes custom chips for AI training and inference at the infrastructure layer, AI-model development tools like Bedrock at the platform layer, and AI applications like Amazon Q at the software layer. That three-tiered strategy is paying off. CEO Andy Jassy recently told analysts: "Our AI business has a multibillion-dollar annual revenue run rate," and "continues to grow triple-digit year-over-year percentages." Amazon shares soared 855% over the last decade as the company built strong positions in online retail, digital advertising, and cloud computing. And Wall Street is still predominantly bullish. Among the 71 analysts who follow the company, 96% rate the stock a buy, and the median target price is $235 per share, which implies 14% upside from the current share price of $205. Wall Street expects Amazon's earnings to increase at 10% annually through 2026. That makes the current price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 33 look somewhat expensive. But I think analysts are underestimating the company, as they have in the past -- Amazon topped the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 21% during the last six quarters. Long-term investors should feel comfortable buying a small position today. Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. 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